Romney Assails 47% of Americans — Twitter Users go to Town

GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney became the focus of another Twitter trend Monday — after he was caught on video telling an audience of wealthy donors that 47% of Americans "believe they are victims" and "will vote for this president [Obama] no matter what."

The hidden camera video, above, was taken at a fundraiser earlier this year by an anonymous source, who then handed the tape to a Mother Jones reporter. Romney stuck to traditional campaign talking points for much of the event, but gave this answer in response to a question asking how he was going to win.

"There are 47 percent who are with [Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it," Romney told the donor.

"They will vote for this president no matter what. These are people who pay no income tax. My job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

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First, a little fact-checking. As the Atlantic points out, this 47% figure — frequently used by Republicans, though not usually ones on a presidential ticket — is somewhat misleading.

Most of that 47% do still pay some kind of tax, be it local, payroll, federal, social security or Medicare. The income tax breaks they do get were instituted by a Republican president, Gerald Ford.

Nearly all of the 47% are families earning less than $30,000 a year. But also included in that figure are the 7,000 millionaires who paid no taxes last year — some of whom may well have been in Romney's audience.

Regardless, Twitter users were stunned that a presidential candidate would so easily dismiss half of his potential voting base:

Mitt Romney video translation: "47% of Americans are worthless mooches, and I don't care about them."

— Mitchell Hargrave (@mhargrave) September 17, 2012

Sorry, but if you think 47% of Americans are useless, lazy, income tax dodging slobs looking for hand outs, you maybe shouldn't be President

— Kerri Jarema (@kerrajar) September 17, 2012

The phrase "47% of Americans" was trending in the U.S. Monday, with the majority of tweets berating or mocking the comments:

Romney arithmetic confuses me. 47% of Americans pay no taxes and expect gov't handouts. Yet "middle" class makes 200-250K.

— david ruston (@davidruston613) September 17, 2012

"@nealbrennan: Romney: "47% of Americans think that they're ENTITLED to healthcare! Who do they think they are. Citizens of Massachusetts?""

— Dr. Robert Gray (@DrRobGray) September 17, 2012

Also doing the rounds was this explanatory map:

And, of course, the inevitable Carly Rae Jepsen parody:

We just met, and this is crazy, but did you know that 47% of Americans are dependent and lazy?

— Tim Dickinson (@7im) September 17, 2012

Will the hidden camera video help or hurt Romney? Does Twitter's disbelief reflect the reaction of the electorate at large? Give us your take in the comments.